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Course Offerings & Instructors
(information subject to change)
COURSE OFFERINGS - These are in-depth courses. Choose one for the
entire week
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GIS and Public Health
Evidence-Based Practice for
Rural Public Health |
Genetic Epidemiology
Stroke Epidemiology |
GUEST INSTRUCTORS
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Randy Wykoff, MD, Dean of the
College of Public and Allied Health at East Tennessee State
University.
Dr. Wykoff, a physician Board
Certified in both Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, has over
twenty years of executive public health leadership experience on the
local, national, and international level.
Prior to coming to ETSU, Dr. Wykoff was the Senior Vice President
for International Operations at Project HOPE, responsible for
over-seeing all international program activities for a premier
international non-profit health education organization, with more
than 500 employees in over 30 countries.
Before joining Project HOPE, Dr. Wykoff was the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Health (Disease Prevention and Health Promotion) in
the Department of Health and Human Services. In this capacity he
oversaw the coordination and national implementation of Healthy
People 2010 and worked on a variety of initiatives including the
Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Overweight and Obesity.
He also served for one year as the Acting Executive Director of the
President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Dr. Wykoff has also held the positions of Associate Commissioner
for Operations and Associate Commissioner for AIDS and Special
Health issues during eleven years at the Food and Drug
Administration. During this time, he also led the Science Team for
FDA’s Tobacco Working Group and served as the Executive Director of
the National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development. He also served a
six month detail as a Senior Health Policy Fellow with the Senate
Labor and Human Resources Committee.
Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Wykoff was the District Medical
Director for the six-county Upper Savannah Health District for the
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Dr. Wykoff and his wife Janine live in Johnson City with four of
their five children. |
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Evidence-Based Practice for Rural
Public Health: Dr. Tim
Aldrich, East Tennessee State University
Tim Aldrich has his Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of
Texas, School of Public Health. He has worked in North and South
Carolina, and Kentucky before coming to Tennessee. He is an
Associate Professor at East Tennessee State University, yet
continues his academic ties with four other schools of public health
in the southeast. His research interests are with public
surveillance applications, and space time studies of chronic
disease. He serves as the curriculum coordinator for the Appalachian
Institute of Epidemiology. An avid golfer, his planning of
recreational activities at the Institute for recreation is highly
focused. |
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GIS and Spatial Epidemiology in Public Health: Dr. Agricola Odoi of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, College of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Agricola Odoi is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Tennessee, and an Adjunct Faculty member in the College of Public and Allied Health, East Tennessee State University. He trained as a veterinarian in Uganda, obtained his M.Sc. in Epidemiology from University of Nairobi (Kenya) and PhD in Epidemiology from University of Guelph (Canada). Before joining the University of Tennessee, Dr. Odoi was a Public Health Epidemiologist and a part-time Faculty member in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University in Canada. He also taught Epidemiology and Veterinary Public Health at Makerere University, Kampala (Uganda). Dr. Odoi’s current research and teaching interests are in the epidemiology of food and waterborne diseases of public health significance and the applications of GIS and Spatial Epidemiology in public and population health research and practice.
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Genetic Epidemiology: Wendy Langeberg, PhD (ABD), of the University of Washington
Ms. Langeberg works with the Prostate Studies Group at the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, where she
studies the genetic epidemiology of prostate cancer. She is also a
statistical consultant with Medstatistics, where she has worked with
ophthalmologists to ornithologists. Ms. Langeberg received her Masters
in Public Health from the University of Utah and later worked with Rocky
Mountain Health Plans in Colorado and the Utah Cancer Registry before
moving to Seattle to earn her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of
Washington.
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Stroke Epidemiology: Dr. Dilip Panday, University of
Illinois at Chicago Dr. Dilip Pandey is an Associate Professor of
Neurology and Rehabilitation at the University of Illinois at Chicago,
College of Medicine. A respected physician-researcher, his doctorate in
Epidemiology is from the University of Texas School of Public Health.
Dr. Pandey is the Director for Neuroepidemiology & Clinical trials at
the Center for Stroke Research of the University of Illinois at Chicago;
in addition he is the Director of the Illinois Coverdell Stroke
Registry. A prolific writer of academic articles, he is actively
involved with some of the most prominent national studies of stroke and
heart disease, e.g., the national REACT study. Dr. Pandey will teach
our stroke epidemiology class covering basic disease processes as well
as the descriptive U.S. epidemiology [reflecting his interest in
minorities and women’s health]. He will also discuss stroke control
programs like the CAPTURE STROKE model in Illinois, other state-based
programs, and especially the emerging Coverdell stroke registry
operations. A gifted lecturer, we are pleased to have him as faculty at
the Appachain Epidemiology Institute.
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Evidence-Based Rural Public Health: Dr. Guang Zhao, South Carolina
Dept. of Health and Environmental Control
Dr. Guang Zhao is currently
Assistant State Registrar and Bureau Director of the Office of
Public Health Statistics and Information Services (PHSIS) in the
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control. He oversees statewide operations of vital records and
cancer registries occurring
in South Carolina. He also directs statewide operations of
issuing certifications of birth, death, fetal death, marriage
and divorce records, and provides directions to two technical
Divisions: Biostatistics and Public Health Informatics.
Dr. Zhao also supervises the South Carolina State Toxicologist
who is responsible for investigating environmental causes to
adverse health outcomes occurred in the State and is the Chair
for the Agency's Institutional Review Board (IRB) approving all
researches by the Agency involving human subjects. Dr. Zhao
holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Liaoning University,
A Master of Science in Ecology from Chinese Academy of Science
and Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Remote Sensing from
Michigan Technological University. His professional interests
include public health surveillance, biostatistics, GIS and
geospatial analysis, remote sensing, public health informatics,
environmental assessment and ecological studies. He also
teaches graduate courses of Public Health Surveillance and
Informatics at the School of Public Health, University of South
Carolina. He has published over 15 peer-reviewed scientific
articles on various professional journals including the
prestigious Science
magazine.
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Evidence-Based Rural Public Health: Lisa Pratt Ward, East
Tennessee State University
Lisa Pratt Ward is
originally from the state of Indiana, where she received her BA
in Chemistry from DePauw University. While at DePauw, she
played on the Women’s Basketball team and ran Cross Country and
Track. After University, Lisa served as a Peace Corps Volunteer
in the Solomon Islands. She taught science and math to 150
secondary students. Upon her return to America, Lisa studied
public health at Tulane University in New Orleans. She received
her Masters of Science in Public Health degree in Parasitology
and her Doctor of Science degree in Environmental Health
Sciences. Lisa’s public health career has allowed her to work
in a variety of countries including Uganda, Indonesia and
Haiti. Currently, Lisa is an Adjunct Professor in the College
of Public Health at East Tennessee State University.
Additionally, Lisa is busy with her three children, twin girls
and a newborn girl.
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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
GIS
and Spatial Epidemiology in Public Health:
Geographical information
systems (GIS) and spatial epidemiology are becoming increasingly
important in public health practice. This course deals with principles
and applications of GIS and spatial epidemiology in public health
research and practice. Participants will be exposed to a wide range of
spatial analysis techniques useful in the investigation of health
problems and vector dynamics. The knowledge gained is useful in guiding
disease prevention and control strategies. There will be a fair bit of
hands-on computer exercises involving application of a wide range of
spatial analytical techniques. An understanding of basic epidemiology
and biostatistics concepts will be assumed as will use of personal
computers. This is a limited enrollment class (10-12 students) intended
for epidemiologists, public health practitioners as well as graduate
students of epidemiology/public health. Dr. Agricola Odoi of the
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, College of Veterinary Medicine will
teach the class.
Evidence-Based Practice for Rural Public Health:
A class developed especially for rural health practice in
China. It aims to prepare participants to use health data to
identify and address public health priorities. The class includes
instruction in community-based data collection and evaluation as
tools for public health decision making. The class will feature
statistical processes for estimation and interpretation of sparse
data. It will incorporate the principles of risk communication as a
part of healthful intervention. Also it will instruct field methods
and engagement strategies for working with local, rural communities
and organizations The target audience is epidemiologists, data
analysts, and other public health professionals supporting rural
health programs. As well as managers of health programs in rural
areas and directors of agency programs. Lectures will comprise the
majority of the instruction format. Laboratory exercises will
demonstrate common statistical software systems: Excel, Epi-Info. A
basic familiarity of epidemiology and biostatistics is recommended.
Genetic Epidemiology: Genetic epidemiology
evaluates the role of inherited causes of disease in families and in
populations. Through linkage and association studies, genetic
epidemiologists endeavor to detect the inheritance pattern of a disease,
localize a related gene, and find a marker associated with disease
susceptibility that can then be used in screening and other disease
prevention efforts. They also study gene-gene and gene-environment
interactions. This course will provide an overview of genetic
epidemiologic methods and demonstrate the use of software and other
tools used for these analyses.
Stroke Epidemiology: This is the Appalachia
Epidemiology Institute’s flagship class, it is patterned after the
annual Lake Tahoe class presented by the American Heart Association,
the CDC, and the NHLBI. This class will focus on clinical
epidemiology as well as population-based studies. Course Objectives:
(1) To acquire understanding of the nature of stroke, and
epidemiologic approaches to its study. (2) To critically
evaluate epidemiologic evidence concerning stroke through review and
discussion of published papers. (3) To apply the major epidemiologic
approaches to the investigation of a student-selected,
stroke-related research question [this is managed through the
collaborative development of a research proposal]. (4) To learn to
evaluate the epidemiologic basis for policy and system changes with
stroke prevention.
* These courses have limited
enrollment and require follow-up documentation once Professional Development
processes the registration. Follow-up documentation may include curriculum vitae,
career statement, etc. You may contact us
for additional information.
    
Advanced Epi Class
Advanced Biostatistics Class
Genetic Epi Class
GIS and Public Health Class
Stroke Epidemiology Class
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